Australia’s richest person, Gina Rinehart, is a relentless campaigner against net zero and renewable technologies, but the people running some of the mining companies she backs have a clear view of the economic and environmental benefits of the green energy transition.
Arafura Rare Earths, in which Rinehart has a 15 per cent stake, this week reached financial close and gave the go-ahead to the $1.6 billion Nolans Rare Earths project in the Northern Territory, selling minerals essential to green industries such as renewables and electric vehicles.
Among its major clients is German wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa, which will be buying 520 tonnes per year of NdPr oxide (Neodymium-Praseodymium), which is vital for making high-performance permanent magnets that are critical for wind turbines and EVs, as well as aerospace and defence technologies.
The biggest contract is with Hyundai and Kia for 1,500 tonnes a year to support their growing fleet of electric vehicles, and those two contracts – specifically for green technologies – will account for 57 per cent of the planned output of the Nolan mine, located some 135 km north of Alice Springs.
Another 800 tonnes of NdPr has been contracted by commodity trading group Traxys, while the Australian government is likely to take 500 tonnes for its own strategic reserve.
There are a lot of good reasons why Australia should support mines like Nolan, which the company says has the potential to be among the “most consequential contributions” to Australian industrial development.
And despite Arafura’s claims that Nolan’s will be a “low cost” and “high margin” operation, it has enjoyed strong backing from government authorities with some $1.2 billion in direct government support.
The National Reconstruction Fund Corp has contributed $200 million. Its chair, Martijn Wilder, says “rare earth minerals are strategically important resources that are crucial to the global transition to net zero.”
Arafura has also secured $840 million in loans, as well as the $200 million from the NRFC, and another $84 million from German state-owned development bank KFW.
The Australian government even has a $146 million equity investment in the company, via Export Finance Australia, and signed the deal for 14 per cent of the mine’s output.
It would not be doing this without recognising the importance of net zero, and of Australia securing its own supply chains of critical minerals.
And as Arafura says, without key minerals such as NdPr “long-term deficits in magnet supply could constrain EV and wind turbine production.” It further notes: “Nolans is the only new near-term solution to supply chain vulnerability.”
It seems a little ironic then because Rinehart has complained – loudly and often – that wind turbines, along with solar panels, are an eyesore, that they deny farmers the opportunity to grow food, and has regularly criticised other companies for “sacrificing” their shareholders on the “green altar” of net zero.
Rinehart has been a key backer of right wing “think tanks” such as the Institute of Public Affairs, and now openly supports Pauline Hanson and her One Nation party, both of which relentlessly attack “net zero” and renewable energy technologies.
Yet Rinehart’s other mining interests have different views, and have had a front row seat on recognising the benefits of green energy, and the advantage of not being held hostage to the fossil fuel industry.
Rinehart ploughed a reported $1.3 billion into Liontown Resources, a lithium miner also supplying the EV industry that aims to reach net zero by 2034.
In the March quarter this year, Liontown powered its Kathleen Valley mining operations (pictured above) with an 80 per cent share of wind and solar, slashing surging diesel costs in the process.
Another of Rinehart’s mining interests, Lynas Rare Earths, which also supplies the green energy industry, went even better at its Mt Weld mining operations and achieved a remarkable 95.7 per cent wind and solar share over the whole March quarter.
The Nolan mine – and its rare earth oxide manufacturing facility (it will also produce dysprosium and terbium) – was originally going to be powered by fossil gas via the nearby pipeline, according to the “definitive feasibility study” that was published in 2019.
But since then much has changed in the energy world. Gas is still expensive, and the cost of renewables and battery storage in particular have fallen significantly. The company now notes the facility will also feature a “hybrid” renewable power station, but has not released details of what is planned.
See: Australia’s richest person says solar panels are an eyesore: Here’s why that matters
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